Crossing the River of Death

I turned on the TV this moring to get a check on the weather and this headline was the first thing I heard.

MIAMI (AP) — Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor died early Tuesday, a day after the Pro Bowl player was shot at home by what police say was an intruder. He was 24.

I had heard the news yesterday that he had been shot in the leg and was in critical condition, but seemed to be improving. The story seemed to just stick with me because someone was critically near the point of crossing over the river of death. He has a girlfriend and one year old daughter that are now left behind.

It is an interesting thing after someone has crossed from this world to eternity. Many people are convinced that by simply dying their loved one is in a better place. They speak in those terms quite freely, but then they quickly go back to living with no real thought of eternity. Often times they will comfort themselves by saying something like, “He would have wanted us to go play golf, or fish.” I can already hear the comments in the media surrounding the Redskins, “He loved football, and would have wanted us to play.” Eternity was in mind for a split second, but how quickly we go back to the trivial as significant. It is true of many, that they would have wanted us to go on idolizing the things of this world. However, few give thought to what their loved one would want us to do now in light of the eternity they are in. Without exception, they would want us to believe in God, for they now do, and they would want us to turn from our sin, for they regret all of it, and they would want us to turn to Christ, for they now know that he is truly the only way to a better place (Luke 16:19-30). I don’t know much of anything about Sean Taylor, nor do I know if he is in heaven or hell. I do know that his chief concern is not about a football game on Sunday.